Come Back To Me
by kunoichi418
Summary: After April/Za-Naron destroys Donnie, April finally begins to realize she might have feelings for him... Takes place after the episode "The Power Inside Her." An Apritello one-shot fluff fic :)


**Hello fellow Apritello fans! I'm excited to publish my first fanfic ever! It takes place right after the episode, "The Power Inside Her." I thought it was such an intense, moving episode and I SO wanted April to kiss Donnie at the end! I thought she was going to kiss him but then was like, "aw darn, she passed out…" It's been like 4 seasons and you'd think they would have gotten together by now! But since I'm pretty sure they'll never let Donnie and April actually get together in the tv series, that's what fanfiction is for right? I do not own any of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles characters! Rights to the characters/show go to Nickelodeon...**

 **Enjoy!**

…..

"...This isn't you April! That crystal is changing you! You need to break free!" Donatello screamed, hoping to reach her, trying desperately to get through to the real April...

"It's too much power! I - I can't control it anymore!" she yelled, as Za-Naron fought to regain control of her mind...

"You can do it! I know you can!"

"I'm not strong enough! Donnie, I'm sorry…" She was fighting her hardest to remain in control, but knew she was losing the battle...

"April? Please…" He whispered, a pleading look in his brown eyes. But it was too late...she felt the alien take over, and could only watch in horror as Donatello started to glow, knowing what Za-Naron was planning to do next...

"APRIL, PLEEEAASE!" He screamed, eyes wide... as she, no, Za-Naron made him explode into millions of blue particles. Molecularly scattered across the world by the powerful Aeon being… She couldn't believe it...He was gone. And she would never forget the look on his face...

April woke with a start, breathing heavily and shaking, tears forming in her eyes after reliving the nightmare of that awful night. She put her face in her hands and soon calmed when she realized it had just been a dream. She was still in the lair, having fallen asleep on the couch after the ordeal. It was early morning now, and the others were still asleep. It had been an exhausting night for everyone. _"But it wasn't a dream…"_ she thought, _"I actually did that to Donnie..."_ She still felt terrible for not listening to him when he tried to warn her about the effect the crystal was having on her, for not listening to anyone, even Master Splinter! She had been too seduced by its power, and the amazing things she could do, how her power had grown. It had been affecting her, while Za-Naron had been slowly taking control the entire time, but she hadn't wanted to notice the subtle changes, hadn't wanted to admit anything was wrong... She shuddered when she realized how close it had come to making her destroy her friends, her family. She nearly killed them all when she used a psychic blast to throw them off the roof of that building, and nearly made Raph suffer the same fate as Donnie. Her heart gave a pang at the thought... _"Poor Donnie...but, he's ok, he's back now, and the_ _others are fine, or at least they will be."_ She remembered, as she, as Za-Naron, was about to destroy Raph, he shouted, "Remember ... _Donnie!_ " A flood of images went through her mind…

Donnie, saving her from Karai's would-be fatal blow...

Giving Donnie a hug after he had saved the city from a Kraang invasion…

Donnie standing on the dock in the sunset, smiling and giving a thumbs up…

She remembered all they had been through together, and had found enough strength to fight Za-Naron's hold on her, had been able to regain enough control, just enough to tear the crystal from her neck and throw it on the ground, smashing it to pieces and becoming free from its power. She had to defeat Za-Naron, the alien also having been freed from her crystal prison... she had faced that terrible demon head-on and defeated it with one slash of her tanto. Then she had to bring Donnie back. She knew he wasn't really gone, and by using all of her strength and focus, and the last of the broken crystal's power, she concentrated, willing with every fiber of her being for Donnie to come back... she had been so relieved when he appeared! "DONNIE!" She shouted, running to him, throwing her arms around his neck. "Thank goodness!" she breathed, as he wrapped his arms around her too. She was so thankful that he was back, that he was ok... Then she blacked out, having used the very last of her strength, and fell to the ground unconscious. When she woke up in the lair, she felt so guilty, and had apologized to everyone. Then after they had gone to bed, she had fallen asleep…

 _"Thankfully that's over…"_ she thought, _"At least I have a better idea of how to control my powers now...If it wasn't for the guys, and for Donnie,_ I _might have…"_ April suddenly realized, it was _Donnie_ who had brought her back...Donnie who had actually saved HER, from herself, from Za-Naron... When she had felt like she was unable to fight anymore and wanted to give up, only the memory of Donnie had made her want to try so hard to break free. She thought about all the things he had done for her, all the times he had saved her…

The first time they met, when he had tried to save her and her father from being kidnapped by Kraang-droids…she had been afraid of him then, having never seen a giant talking turtle mutant before, but felt like she could trust him at the same time...

How he fearlessly launched himself after her when she fell from the helicopter, catching her in his strong arms, leaping and somersaulting to save her life…

Saving her father from the Kraang lab, and then spending countless hours making the retro-mutagen to save him again when he had been mutated…

Rescuing her from Kraang Prime when she had been held captive in the Technodrome...

Coming for her when Karai had been about to kill her, even after she had disowned him…

She could think of so many more instances...Not to mention how many times he and the others had saved the world! It was all the little things too...he had always been so sweet to her, so kind and thoughtful. Helping her train, sometimes being a little overprotective in her opinion, or saying things to her or about her that made him flush with embarrassment. He was always the happiest to see her when she came to visit, and looked out for her the most when they fought side by side. All those times he had held her when she was upset or sad... he was always ready to comfort her... and she knew that he cared for her, he had tried to confess it a couple of times, like when he gave her that music box, but she had either rejected or confused him with her reactions. She cared for him too, she loved all the turtles like brothers, but with Donnie it was different...she had kissed him on the cheek a few times, and once on the lips, when he had been sad because he felt like he was being too forward with her and told her he would leave her alone.

 _"So how do I feel about him? He's always been there for me, since the very beginning...and I very nearly lost him forever last night..."_ She smiled, hugging her knees, as she felt a blush coming to her face... she thought of his beautiful hazelnut eyes and cute gap-tooth smile, and felt heat rising through her body... She had felt so much anguish when she thought he was gone forever, and couldn't bear the thought of being without him, of not having him around anymore. She felt a surge of happiness when she thought about him, her heart beating faster when it suddenly dawned on her… _"I love him too...I love Donnie!"_ She made up her mind then... She was going to tell him how she felt, right now!

….

Donnie had not slept much. He tried, but he could only toss and turn, thinking of everything that had happened that night. He had been obliterated, reduced to a "quantum smear" as he had phrased it earlier. It didn't hurt, but it sure felt strange and his mind was completely blown, still trying to wrap around what happened. And he felt bad that he hadn't been able to help April, that he hadn't destroyed that dumb crystal when he had the chance and prevented all of this… _"I'm sorry April..."_ he thought with remorse, _"But she's ok now, the crystal is gone."_ He sighed and got out of bed, and started towards his lab. He saw April sleeping somewhat fitfully on the couch, and noticing she had kicked off her blanket, he gently laid it back on her. She had a troubled expression on her face, and was muttering in her sleep. He felt a pang in his heart as he looked at her, her beautiful red hair framing her face. He carefully brushed a lock of her hair behind her ear, delicately so as not to wake her. The girl of his dreams, so beautiful and fierce, who would probably never return his feelings for her. He was a mutant after all, and he had to accept that they would probably never be together in the way he hoped. He calculated his chances at being around less than 5 percent... He went into his lab and tried to distract himself by working on one of many projects he had, a dejected sigh escaping him.

….

April stood and walked to Donnie's room, heart pounding. The door was open, so she peeked in. He wasn't there. She knew there was only one other place he would probably be...she went to his lab, and taking a deep breath, knocked on the door.

"Come in," she heard him say. She opened the door and stepped in, feeling nervous but determined. He looked up from what he was doing, and stammered, "Oh, h-hi April! What are you doing up?" I hope I didn't wake her when I touched her hair…he thought with a flush. She walked over to where he sat, and stood with her hands clenching nervously behind her back, hoping he didn't see how red her face was.

"I... need to talk to you. I just wanted to see how you were doing after...after last night." He smiled, "I'm fine April, really. I may have been temporarily molecularly scattered, but I have you to thank for bringing me back." April felt a pang of guilt again, but then smiled as she said, "I think I have _you_ to thank for bringing _me_ back."

"What do you mean?" he said, looking confused. She took a deep breath. "After I...after Za-Naron destroyed you, I felt so helpless. I felt like I couldn't fight anymore, and I was lost… then the guys, they were all shouting at me, trying to get me to remember who I really was, who they were...and then, Raph said 'remember Donnie!' and memories of you went through my mind...I just felt this raging desire to fight as hard as I could to break free…" she paused, seeing Donnie's eyes grow wide. "I fought with everything I had, and I managed to break the crystal. And I felt so awful…" her voice began to waver, "because of what I did to you."

"Oh, April…" He stood up, and walked over to her, putting a hand on her shoulder and looking her in the eyes, "It's ok April, everything is fine now, I'm fine," he said reassuringly. He had no idea of the struggle she had gone through, and that he had been such a big part of it. She surprised him when she suddenly wrapped her arms around him, and began to cry. He put his arms around her, tenderly patting her back, trying to comfort her, he would do anything for her to make the tears stop. "I thought I lost you forever," she sobbed into his chest, "but it made me realize, how much you mean to me…" Donnie stood frozen in place, holding his breath...could she really be saying what he thought she was? She continued, calming down a bit now, "I couldn't bear the thought of losing you. You've always been there for me, always been such a loyal friend, always shown that you cared for me…" She exhaled, and looked up into those beautiful brown eyes, so full of concern for her, and smiled as she said, "And I realized that... _I love you Donatello_." He could hardly believe his ears...he had never dared to hope that she would ever say those words to him, and yet, she had! His mind was reeling from the shock of what she had just said, trying to form comprehensible thoughts amidst the chaos inside him...

 _"She... loves me? April... loves me!"_ his mind screamed as a look of incredulity and joy formed on his face. He held her tighter, not wanting this moment to end, afraid he would wake up from this dream. She hugged him back, and gazed up at him with a tear-streaked face, a tender look in her eyes, and a smile on her lips. He gazed down at her, wanting to kiss her so badly, but he was afraid, afraid of being rejected or scaring her by pushing too far… she sensed his fear and surprised him again when she gently put her hand on his face, and brought her lips to meet his in a soft kiss. She didn't know what she was doing, she only knew she loved him and that was all that mattered. She didn't care that he was a mutant, after all, she was one too, and who else was going to love him as much as she did? Who else had gone through what they had together? She felt a little sad that it had taken her this long, but so happy that she finally found the courage to return the love he had always had for her.

"I love you so much, April," Donnie whispered as he broke the kiss, his forehead touching hers, gazing into her blue eyes. He couldn't remember a happier time in his life... Finally he was able to hold the girl of his dreams, his angel, in his arms, and she was holding him back! He thought he was in heaven...

"I know Donnie," she whispered back, smiling, "and I want to be your girl." He smiled, and their lips met again. Neither of them knew what the future would hold for them, they only knew they would face it together, with love as their guide.

 **The end** `

Hope you enjoyed! I know it was kind of sappy but I love sappy romance :) Apritello forever!````````````````


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